Lent 1

• Jesus
• John the Baptist
• Spirit of God
• Satan
• Wild Beasts
• Angels

"You are my Son, the Beloved. with you I am well pleased." The angels fed him, with angel food cake, perhaps?

In Mark's Gospel Jesus alone saw the heaven's torn apart and he alone heard the voice from above. This was for him to hear. It is called the Messianic Secret. The humans in the narrative don't figure this out until chapter 8. We who hear this narrative, hear the words and are brought into this secret.

These words: "You are my child,the Beloved, with you I am well pleased" How does this rank in our lives? Very high? These are the most important thing ever said to us. They are the necessary and sufficient basis for our relationship with God and for the Church's relationship to God.

It isn't all tickles and giggles and a feast of angel food cake. After hearing those words and believing them comes a life of danger and filled with testing. It is not great feasting--we are fed on what is necessary and sufficient--communion portions perhaps.

In our baptisms we are ordained. We have the right to discern and confirm calls to a special ministry but all baptized are ordained by God's words, "You are my child, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased." God gives us the authority to affirm calls to special ministry. Without God we cannot and without us God will not. There is a unity in our faith with room for disagreement.

The Spirit of God does not turn us into robots. The culture in which we live makes us polarized. There is the sense that if you believe something hard enough it becomes true. In truth, we can say there are differences, but we don't get to demonize someone for disagreeing with us. We disagree yes, but yet, we are all God's children, living together in Faith, Hope and Love. God is well pleased with us.